NAKHON PHANOM: Police will seek an arrest warrant for former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot for alleged involvement in fabricating evidence to substantiate her petition for the retrial of her fatal hit-and-run accident.
Nakhon Phanom police chief Suwichan Yankittikul said on Friday investigators have already pressed a perjury charge against Ms Jomsap, and were preparing an application for court approval to formally arrest her.
Jomsap, 55, of Sakon Nakhon, is the eighth person in the case to be charged with perjury since police obtained crucial evidence from confessed perjurer Sab Wapee linking her to the attempt to have a scapegoat driver admit to her fatal car accident in 2005.
Mr Sab, 61, surrendered and confessed to police in Nakhon Phanom on Wednesday that Suriya Nuancharoen, 54, a teacher and close friend of Jomsap, had promised to pay him 400,000 baht for his false testimony and to also keep him out of prison.
He confessed to being hired to say he was the driver in the 2005 fatal accident for which Jomsap was earlier convicted and imprisoned.
Summonses were earlier issued for Mr Sab, Mr Suriya and five other suspects to report to police and hear charges of perjury brought against them. The others are Mr Sab’s wife, Chan Wapee, 53; his elder brothers Lerd Wapee, 66, and Boonthueng Wapee, 63; Ms Thatasanee Hanpayak, 61, and Jomsap’s husband Niran Saenmangkhot, 55.
Shortly after Mr Sab’s surrender, his wife and his two elder brothers also turned themselves in to police to acknowledge the perjury charge.
Mr Sab said on Friday he was ready to accept the outcome of the court's ruling. He admitted he accepted Mr Suriya's offer to say he was the driver of the pickup truck in lieu of Jomsap. He was poor and in need of the money.
Jomsap, was found guilty of reckless driving causing death after a pickup truck the court found she was driving hit a bicycle, killing 75-year-old Lua Pobamrung, in Renu Nakhon district on March 11, 2005. The Supreme Court upheld the first court's sentence of three years and two months in prison in 2013.
Following her release by a royal amnesty in April 2015, Jomsap began wrongful conviction proceedings through the Justice Ministry, seeking a retrial and clearance of her name.
The Supreme Court dismissed the case on Nov 17. The court said it suspected there existed a network that hired out people to confess to crimes they did not commit, and the network had backed Ms Jomsap's claim of wrongful conviction.
Sab Wapee arrives at Nakhon Phanom police station to confess he was hired to say he was the driver in the 2005 fatal accident. (Photo by Pattanapong Sripiachai)